The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, September 01, 1983, Page Page 4, Image 4

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    Page 4
Daily Nebraskan
Thursday, September 1, 1933
Certifkatim argument
ignores legal equality
The Rev. Everett Sileven is et it egain.
For the seventh straight year, he has opened
classes at his Faith Christian School in Louisville.
And for the seventh straight year, he is in violation
of a Nebraska law which requires all schools public
and private to hire certified teachers before they
conduct classes.
Sileven is not talking to the press this time
around, but in the past, he has said his school fol
lows the laws of God, not the laws of man, and
therefore will continue to operate.
Perhaps Sileven and the parents who send their
children to his school could use a lesson on organ
ized society and why it has laws.-
It simply would be impossible for mankind to live
in this world without some kind of organized govern
ment, some semblance of order. To maintain order,
there has to be law.
For laws to be effective, they must be enforced
equally. They cannot, as Sileven claims, be lifted
when someone's religious or other personal beliefs
are in conflict with them.
We realize Nebraskais in the minority on the
private school controversy. Most states do allow
certification exemptions for some private schools.
But in this instance,ls?ebraska is right.
The state law is not in conflict with Christian
beliefs; it simply is a safeguard so that those who are
unqualified cannot call themselves teachers and
open a school
Nebraska law does not prevent the operations of
church-supported schools. In fact, there are ele
mentary and secondary schools throughout the
state that offer education with a religious back
ground. Nearly all of them are operating within the laws
established by the state and most of them are offer
ing high quality education, maybe better than what
is available in public schools.
If nothing else, these schools have proven that the
separation of church and state does not necessarily
mean the two cant coexist.
Sileven would be wise to study some of these insti
tutions and pattern Faith Christian School after
them. If he does, he will have tittle trouble finding
certified instructors with a religious background,
and he will have little trouble from law enforcment
officials.; J
If Sileven choses to continue operating without
certified; teachers, Nebraska and Cass County offi
cials should put an end to his mockery of the law.
They should close his school for good.
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Anchorwoman?s case sets precedent
When a Kansas City jury found in favor of
Christine Craft, it found against show-biz news.
The TV anchorwoman was awarded half a million
dollars because she had been fired "for her looks."
Many American women celebrated that victory if
only because, these days, anybody can demand and
Paul Harvey
Editorial Policy
Unsigned editorials represent official policy of the
fall 1033 Daily Nebraskan. They are written by thb
semester's editor in chief, Larry Sparks.
Other staff members will write editorials
throughout the semester. They will carry the
author's name after the final sentence. -
get "equal rights" . . . Even illegal immigrants. Even
convicts.
It would be an inexcusable affront if only women
were denied.
Christine Craft accused her former employer of
fraud, unequal pay and sex discrimination.
"But what I thought about most," she says, "was
the sex discrimination; that was the most obvious."
She resented being paid $40,000 less than her
male counterpart. That was disconcerting."
She resented her employer's determination to
alter her appearance after she had been promised
that appearance was not a consideration in her
employment.
But, however her attorneys chose to focus her
complaints, what bugged her most what she
wanted most to "make them pay for" was the
personal affront of being punished for being female.
Guards patrol campground slums
W
Every woman knows that feeling.
And this is just the beginning.
Presently, a prestigious law firm in Atlanta is
accused of discriminating against one of its lawyers
because she was a she. Two courts voted against her.
The Supreme Court is hearing her appeal.
The law firm, King and Spaulding, believes that
law firms should be excused from the law that
there should be a special exemption for lawyers
so that they might continue to discriminate
against women. "
Ironically, had Miss Craft's employers fired her
without explanation, they would have been spared
thi3 prosecution.
Their undoing was the admission that she was
fired because of her appearance and attitude.
Paul Harvey Comments has been syndicated on
more than 100 television stations for more than 13
years. I have known the frustration of working
diligently over some carefully prepared
commentary, then to be distracted by the director's
admonitions: Tie straight, cuffc out, make-up on,
collar up, shirt down, hair in place look natural!"
But as ABCs Roone Arledge says, "It's a fact of life;
the criteria for TV news people are different"
However, the court precedent established by the
case of Christine Craft vs. show-biz news is already
being cited by corporate attorneys in every industry.
Executives are being coached in what to say and
what not to say to female employees.
1SS3, Lot Aasdet Use Cyxlcsta
nter views Reagaille's' weary
Other ace newsmen may fritter away their vaca
tions carousing in Paris and Monaco. Not I. Driven
by grim-visaged duty, I devoted mine to assessing
the effects of Eeaganomics on this once-proud
nation.
Have we ever got trouble!
Arthur Hoppe
Oh, I'd heard rumors of so-called "Reagan vilks"
dotting the countryside, but never had I seen one of
these pockets of abject poverty so reminiscent of
The Great Depression.
Thus imagine my horror on rounding a bend in a
dusty road high in a remote section of widerness to
find just such a pitiful slum hidden away among the
trees. The horror! The horror!
Several hundred of the destitute were huddled
amidst the rocks and on the barren dirt men,
women, children even squawling babes in arms.
Most had minted to erect Cisisy cloth shelters to
protect thtrncelvcs from the elements. But some
ecpeci-y the young elspt out upon the naked
earth czzczzi to nature et its rawest
Yet even in adversity, these downtrodden people
obviously had struggled to keep their families to
gether. This had so touched the usually uncaring
government bureaucrats that they assigned each
family unit its own tiny, numbered plot of ground.
But the only amenities the government provided
were communal latrines, one for males and one for
females, plus a rough wooden table and a crude
fireplace on which each family unit could burn its
scanty fare.
It was difficult to determine the acuteness of their
hunger of the extent of malnutrition. SuOce it to say
that from sunrise to sunset, the men were off labor
ing to kill fish. And they seemed content if they
returned with a half dozen of the scrawny creatues
hanging from a string scarcer a mouthful apiece
for a family of four and certainly little enough to
show for a hard day's work
The children appeared to be mostly preoccupied
with foraging for berries and sticks for the fire. But
the lot of the women in this sexist society tugged at
the heartstrings, they had no choice but to lug water
in buckets for washing, just as do the Untouchsbles
in drought-stricken India.
And the drudgery of laundering! First the water
had to be heated over the fire, the soap added, the
clothes scrubbed. Then more water toted in for the
rinse siosnir.g, wringing hanging. ir.eltaby a
-Ai-iiiw wuma izn cmo me curt, evosr.
3
a sob of, "But there's nowhere to put anything
down."
So the young are filthy, the adults grimy end the
whole lot bug-ridden. God knows what plagues they
may be germinating in their sorry state.
Yet who among us more fortunate citizens with
our Maytags and Whirlpools can condemn them?
They must bathe in frigid water and the children
wince at even brushing their teeth in barely melted
snow. Surely they do the best they can to maintain
what tattered remnants of civilization still bles3
their brute-like existence.
It's little wonder that uniformed government
guards constantly patrol among them on the out
look for incipient riot, if not all-out revolution.
And yet, amazingly enough, these obvious victfcis
of Reaganomics actually express admiration lor the
president. I recall approaching one man who W3
staring moodily into a fire thb being their only
nighttime occupation as they of course car.net
afford television.
"I guess if it weren't for President Hcs-m you
wouldnt be here," I said.-' - .
Thasright,"herep:
job, isnihe? r 4 '
. I know the pundits' Esy'.nr.-nsr-sn istcir.3 IJb
personal popularity despite his cccr.cr.ii3 r.-z'lzizs.
But this is ridiculous. .... ....